Visually not a lot has changed – it's still great to look at, with your hoard of animated townspeople going about their business. There's also a new island type (Volcano) adding to the trading and tactical possibilities of your old European and Oriental cultures. Venice is an add-on pack featuring 300 new quests, 60 new items and a series of new scenarios based around Venetian culture.
It neatly combined the city-building tranquillity of The Settlers with the gunboat diplomacy of Age of Empires to make a deep and absorbing game. O f all the RTS/Sim hybrids, Anno 1404 was one of the most enjoyable.
